The Authors

Technorati

Posts Tagged ‘Chelsea’

A disappointing performance in Munich and an injury to our best player this season later, it is important for the players to put it behind them and look ahead to the remaining two season defining games, if I may add for cliche’ lovers, of the 3 games in 7 days.

Rooney is set to miss this one and its a shame he has to sit out these big games after such a sizzling run of form.

Here’s a set of interesting facts ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson has won only one and lost five (including Community Shield on penalties) of his six meetings with Carlo Ancelotti.

Man Utd have won three and lost none of their last four home games against Chelsea.

The Blues have only scored one goal in their last four visits to Old Trafford.

Man Utd have won 10 and drawn one of the 11 games that Rooney has not played for them in the Premier League since the start of 2008-09.

Man Utd have only conceded two goals in their last 11 Premier League matches at Old Trafford – both were headers.

Since Darren Bent scored for Sunderland in October, Man Utd have gone 19 hours and 23 minutes at Old Trafford without conceding from a shot; all four goals shipped since have been headers.

Didier Drogba has failed to score in eight Premier League appearances against Man Utd.

Nicolas Anelka scored in each of his first four Premier League starts against Man Utd, but has netted just one in his last eight starts versus the Red Devils.

Frank Lampard has scored eight goals in the last four Premier League games that Didier Drogba has missed

Dimitar Berbatov has scored eight goals in his last nine Premier League starts for Manchester United.

Lets face it. United haven’t got unwanted neighbours after all. They provide us with so many opportunities to laugh at them as well as laugh with them that its kind of good to have the noisy neighbours that we have.

On numerous occasions, they have demonstrated their mentality (Small club??), which is the obvious thing someone does when they are screaming for being in the spotlight and cannot stand someone else (Us!) having it. Welcome to Manchester was a case in point.

They mocked the fans’ banner and said they were out to take it down. Only to be knocked out of their only remaining options – the league cup and the FA cup.

They have given us reasons to believe that rich unity of play in the team is what matters, not a rich owner. Knocked out of the Carling Cup and the league game at OT in the injury time on both occasions demonstrated on which side of Manchester the better “team” lies.

Yet, they have helped us in our quest for the title by doing the double over Chelsea winning 2-1 at home, and 4-2 away.

5 points off the pace from the top of the table. Feels bad. And yet again we are done in by the referee. Feels real bad. This, despite playing some fantastic football and keeping the likes of Drogba, Essien, Lampard and Anelka silent. Feels like frikkin Arsenal. So what if the referee made an unfair decision against Chelsea, too?

Giving a yellow to Drogba for a Johny Evans foul seems like a license for Chelsea supporters to say that their United counterparts are overdoing the “ref did us in” debate.

Really?

Had Chelsea lost the game to some poor decisions, Well… We know the story. For refereeing mistakes such as in this game, its either the fans of one side who protest, or the other. All sane discussion goes out the window.

The equation is simple. Equip the referees, damn it! Get them aids (no pun intended) to help them make fair and balanced decisions. I’m not saying the refs are out to get us, or conspiring against us.

But why can’t anyone have the right to protest wrong decisions? For all the fuss made about the RESPECT campaign, there can be no faith, let alone respect, for referees who influence games toward unfair outcomes.

After letting the Darren bent balloon goal stand against Liverpool, the ref was demoted to refereeing in the championship. Does that make up for the mistake and points lost? No, Absolutely not.

It is a matter of highest concern, and the colours of protesting fans can only keep changing with passing games. It was blue in start of may after Barcelona qualified for the Finals of Champions League, Red yesterday, and who knows what tomorrow.

On a more encouraging note, United had a nice game yesterday, refereeing atrocities apart. Our performance was awesome and we outperformed and outclassed Chelsea left, right and centre. So taking heart from the performance is the wisest thing to do.

Critics of United, Beware. For, there can be no bigger disregard to the Premier League than underestimate Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. Liverpool showed us off in the 90’s for our lack of titles compared to their 18. We stand on level ground now. We were written off several times last season owing to a bad start and the accompanying fixture pile-up. Ditto this time ’round, minus the fixture congestion and that can only be better for us. You can’t do us a bigger favour than underestimate United. Therein lies our strength, and your weakness.

So says Carlo Ancelotti, ahead of the meeting between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

Both managers have won two Champions League Cups, Ancelotti with AC Milan in 2002-03 and 2006-07, and Sir Alex in 1998-99 and 2007-08.

More notably, Sir Alex beat Ancelotti’s men(Juventus) in the semi-finals en route to European Glory in 1999, and Ancelotti returned the favour when leading Milan to European success in 2007.

In their 7 competitive meetings to date, Sir Alex has won twice, and Ancelotti four times, the latest being the win on penalties at the Wembley for the Community Shield.

This will be their first Premier League tussle, with Chelsea having a 2 point cushion at the top of the table above United in 2nd place, and I find it remarkable that both managers have good amount of respect for each other, bearing in mind the degree of competitiveness and intensity of past clashes.

Not only does it bode well for the game, it demonstrates that oafs like Rafa need to give us a break.

We did get a taste of the Chelsea diamond midfield in August this year, and we didn’t exactly crumble in Ronaldo’s absence, like it was made out to be then. While they didn’t have their best midfield in Lampard, Essien, Malouda and Obi Mikel, the typical United who pick up momentum(and form) gradually after the start of the season weren’t the best either.

After seeing out some patchy performances and losing at Anfield, the comeback from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 against CSKA Moscow was a breather as the spirit shown by our team to do what we did augurs well.

And with Fletch and Vidic back in the team, it shouldn’t be as rough!

Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that, though. Of course, from my heart I want United to win this and reclaim our rightful position, but my head says both teams will settle for a point each.

The whole transfer ban imposed on Chelsea by FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber has been the topic of much discussion this past week. A complaint was filed by FC Lens immediately after Gael Kakuta broke his contract to sign for chelsea in July 2007, and the verdict was given by FIFA two years henceforth, provoking angry reactions from the chelsea camp and making the headlines its own. While the end to this saga is yet to be seen, it has brought focus to the ongoing state of affairs at Chelsea and the man (allegedly) responsible, Frank Arnesen. Arnesen left Tottenham to join as Academy Director at Chelsea four years ago. He was promoted to the role of Sporting Director after the arrival of Ancelotti this summer. Famed for bringing exciting youth talent to the Spurs, he was quoted as saying “I want to find the next John Terry” while joining Chelsea but has failed to do so. In the four years as Academy Director, Arnesen has failed to produce a single senior team regular from the academy. Despite being repeatedly questioned on his youth policy at the club by Jose Mourinho in early 2007, and numerous poaching stories to his name (Nathan Porritt of Boro, Ashley Cole from arsenal, John Obi Mikel from United), Abramovich has stuck by him as a loyal servant and stood up for him. The fact that their academy graduates are struggling to find a place in their first team for so long speaks a story in itself. Whereas United have a strong youth development policy and it is no surprise that our young academy graduates like Darron Gibson, Johnny Evans and Danny Welbeck find a place to play in the first team as part of the excellent squad maintained by Sir Alex Ferguson. These are homegrown players, not pinched from any youth academy, mind you. Apart from them, we have Kieran Richardson, Chris Eagles, Richard Eckersley and David Jones among others who will play in the Premier League this season.

The victory of FC Lens has given hope to Le Havre AC who are crying foul over Manchester United’s recent acquisition of Paul Pogba, giving rise to fears that FIFA will be just as harsh on United, but in my opinion that fails to be the case. Especially since there are no past records of controversial poaching incidents against United, as is the case with Chelsea, and more particularly, Arnesen. Hence, it is my opinion that the decision taken by the DRC will bear these things in mind, but that is IF AT ALL UNITED ARE FOUND TO HAVE BROKEN UEFA GUIDELINES. So cheer up! We cant end up as bad as Chelsea for sure!